Ex-Yukos executive given new 15-year jail term

The Preobrazhensky District Court handed down the sentence in late December, Usacheva said, adding that Kurtsin was also fined 1 million rubles ($34,000).

Two other defendants, Yury Ivanov and Konstantin Vinogradov, were sentenced to eight year jail terms.

Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. He has consistently denied all charges against him, saying he was punished for supporting the tiny pro-Western political opposition. He claims the liquidation of Yukos was engineered by corrupt government officials aiming to seize lucrative oil assets.

Kurtsin has two other convictions over his activities at Yukos. In December 2008 he was sentenced to 12 years for embezzling and laundering 74 million rubles, while in December 2005 he received a 14-year sentence for embezzling and laundering 343 million rubles belonging to Yukos, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.